The present invention relates to telephonic communications, and in particular relates to apparatus for making telephone wiring connections within a building.
Within an office building, numerous telephones, facsimile (FAX) machines, and computer modems are connected by telephone wiring through jacks in the several offices and rooms of the building. (The same is also true of many apartment buildings, as well as some residences.) Telephone lines from the local telephone company central office are provided to the customer premise. Each customer may have a private branch exchange (PBX), KEY system, or industry standard telephone instruments in which the various telephone instruments of that customer can be connected to one of their assigned telephone company lines. A main physical link for the phone lines in the building is the wiring terminal wherein the dedicated lines, and PBX and KEY extensions are physically connected through interoffice telephone wiring to the jack outlets at which the telephone units are located. Normally these semi-permanent wiring connections are effected by means of a jumper, cross-connect wire, or patch panel of wire cross-connections. Anytime the connections need to be changed, for example when a new building tenant moves in or when a customer adds new lines or extensions, the physical wires in the telephone terminal must be changed manually. Because the terminal connections can be confusing and not well documented changes usually require the services of a professional.
In the world of digital data networks, changes in network configurations occur somewhat more frequently than in voice telephone communications. To improve the ability to rapidly make service changes in such data networks electronic cross-connects have been developed. For example, the Copper CrossConnect(trademark) CX100 from Turnstone Systems, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif. transparently connects loop-side pairs to corresponding equipment-side pairs electronically for DSL service. The CX100 is deployed in the telephone company central office and a subscriber""s DSL service can be changed in a matter of seconds by the service provider so that there is minimal service interruption. Likewise, Nortel Inc.""s Dynatrix, Bytex Corp.""s 7700 switch and NHC Communication Inc.""s Switchex, among others, provide electronic cross-connect switching for local area networks at a customer site. These switches support multiple network protocols and configurations in a data environment, and have allowed automatic switching of computers as network connections have grown more complex.
Because digital network protocols and configurations are more complex and dynamic, the cross-connect switching systems tend to be expensive and solely applicable to their data service providing environment. In comparison, telephone communication systems are normally much more static in their configuration so that the relatively inexpensive patch panel continues to be used.
An object of the present invention is to provide an automated telephone wiring connection terminal for telephone connections in a multi-jack office (or residential) building environment which can be easily and reliably configured by the end user.
The object is met by a customer programmable electronic cross-connect terminal in which telephone wiring connections between (a) PBX and KEY telephone extensions and central office dedicated phone lines on one side to (b) jack outlets connectable to PBX, KEY and standard telephone units, fax machines and computer modems on the other side are made electronically by programming the connections from a key panel on the front of the terminal, from a remote key panel or through remote modem or digital network communication ports. The terminal includes telephone connection ports for the input and output telephone wiring, in which connections are made by an electronic circuit switch bank controlled by a microcontroller internal to the unit. The keypad, with an LCD display, and the modem/com port serve as input/output for programming the system. A microcontroller of the system controls the settings of the switch bank, while the system""s memory stores those settings along with software for operating the microcontroller. The simplicity of the terminal results in an inexpensive, yet easier to use, alternative to the manual patch panel presently used in office buildings, reducing the need for technician site visits to make changes to the telephone connections.